英语语言学期末试卷

《英语语言学》期末试卷A 卷

课程归属部门：外国语学院 试卷适用范围：英语本科

1. Language change is a gradual and constant process, therefore often indiscernible to speakers

of the same generation.

2. In general, linguistic change in grammar is more noticeable than that in the sound system and

the vocabulary of a language.

3. “Fridge ” is a word formed by abbreviation.

4. The way children acquire the language is one of the causes for language change.

5. Language use varies from one speech community to another, from one regional group to

another, from one social group to another, and even from one individual to another.

6. The linguistic markers that characterize individual social groups may serve as social markers

of group membership.

7. A lingua franca can only be used within a particular country for communication among groups

of people with different linguistic backgrounds.

8. The major difference between a pidgin and a creole is that the former usually has its native

speakers while the latter doesn’t.

9. L1 development and L2 development seem to involve the same processes. 10. All normal children have equal ability to acquire their first language.

11. Children follow a similar acquisition schedule of predictable stages along the route of

language development across cultures, though there is an idiosyncratic variation in the amount of time that takes individuals to master different aspects of the grammar.

12. Human beings are genetically predetermined to acquire language; this genetic predisposition

is a sufficient condition for language development.

13. Children who grow up in culture where caretaker speech is absent acquire their native

language more slowly than children who are exposed to caretaker speech.

14. Correction and reinforcement are not key factors in child language development as they were

claimed to be.

15. Imitation plays at best a very minor role in the child’s mastery of language. 1. Language change is essentially a matter of change ________.

A. in collocations

B. in meaning

C. in grammar

D. in usages 2. _________ is a process of combining two or more words into one lexical unit. A. Derivation B. Blending C. Compounding D. Abbreviation 3. “Wife”, which used to refer to any woman, stands for “a married woman” in modern English. This phenomenon is known as ________.

A. semantic shift

B. semantic broadening

C. semantic elevation

D. semantic narrowing 4. English language belongs to _________.

A. Indo-European Family

B. Sino-Tibetan Family

C. Austronesian Family

D. Afroasiatic Family

5. By analogy to the plural formation of the word “dog -s”, speakers started saying “cows” as the plural of “cow” instead of the earlier plural “kine”. This is the case of _________.

A. elaboration

B. external borrowing

C. sound assimilation

D. internal borrowing 6. The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its _____.

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False. Write your answers on the Answering Sheet. （15%） II. Directions: Read each of the following statements to decide which one of the four choices best completes the statement and put the letter A, B, C or D in the Answering Sheet.（30%）